ew bell will soon be ringing from the downtown Norwich tower. The “new” bell is actually a very old one – perhaps the second oldest in the entire country, said Rev. Glenn Mahaffey. The bell comes to Norwich from our sister city in Norwich, England – a project began in 1988 through the efforts of Fr. Bob Deacon and the late Mayor Marge Chomyszak. The bell arrived from England in August and was installed in the church tower this week, aided by engineer Gene Rood and Barry McNitt of Schlafer Construction, pictured above. It was part of a peal of five bells at St. Mary’s Church in Tasburgh, England (eight miles south of Norwich) and was cast in 1613. “This bell has been calling people to worship in Norwich, England for almost 400 years, and we have every hope it will continue to carry on this function in Norwich, New York for many years to come,” Fr. Mahaffey said. He also offered special thanks to George Denning and Jim Everard for their work in the hanging of the bell...